Hello, everyone!

I have a lot of stuff to talk about in this month's Newsletter, so let us brazenly dive into it while being mindful of proper safety equipment usage-

Wait, you forgot the parachuuuuuuuuute!!!! W-woaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!

First of all, I must adjust the initially intended stories for February due to a delay from January.

Learning From President - Chapter 4 (possible finale) was meant to be a January story but wound up being pushed to February due to a lot of my intended word count being focused on other stories. Overcommitting to individual chapters is something I have to work on, or else the queue as a whole suffers.

In any case, this makes the expectation for February to be the following:

Learning From President - Chapter 4 (possible finale).

Either Passing The Sin Along - Chapter 3 (100% definitely finale) or the Final Fantasy VII Prompt Poll winner from November, 2023.

Ideally, I'd like to get all three out, but I already know myself too well to make that promise.

I haven't chosen which one it'll be. We shall find out live. I am still playing the game as well. I am a very slow player, so I am still quite far away from the ending, though I think I know enough about the characters already.

There is no Prompt Poll this month! There may also not be a Story Continuation Poll, as I am considering changing their functioning. I talk more about that below.

January was one surprise after another in terms of polling.

The Character Popularity Poll yielded results waaay outside my initial expectations.

I have run this poll twice before. In both cases, Rebecca (from Adding A BBC Into The Family) beat everyone by a WIDE margin. Yet, this time, she did not make it anywhere near the top.

Ironically enough, I am quite sure that if Rebecca saw the results of the poll, she would lose her mind. In a way, this is the ultimate NTR for her. Do you feel guilty about that?

All that aside, other previously popular characters did not make it anywhere near the top either. I don't see any of this as a problem, though. It's reassuring to know that I can continue writing new and different characters without fear that all interest is anchored in the same characters forever and ever.

Now, let us see the highest voted!

1st place: Rias from The Black King Piece.

Okay, there is zero surprise here. I already expected this result, and I think a lot of people did too. The Black King Piece is easily among my most popular stories. I wonder how much of that is the story itself or just High School DXD popularity among the smut world? Whichever the answer, I am happy that everyone liked Rias' portrayal in the story.

Had this poll been run after Chapter 2, would Akeno have been higher up? We'll find out next time!

Where shall Rias' corruption go?

2nd place: Sheila from Like A Lamb To The Sexual Slaughter.

This result surprised me a LOT. In the last popularity poll, Sheila got nowhere near the top. Interestingly enough, one of the recent Story Continuation Polls also had a massive voting interest in Chapter 3. I wonder if Chapter 2 made her immensely popular?

Regardless, she is a very fun character to write. Ruthless, Amazonian, Futanari muscle mommies deserve love too. I always love writing tall, dominant women, and she encompasses all of that with a full set of thick abs. I'm sure Pyrrha would rate her equally high.

Don't know about Joan, though.

3rd place: Stacy from Stacy's Got The Wheel.

Stacy is likely one of the lightest, if not the lightest, OC characters I've written in terms of Subscribestar-exclusive stories. I have a lot of fun writing her because of her humorous, airheaded nature - with a tinge of immoral depravity. I know gullible/naive MILFs are one of the most popular categories of female MCs (according to a poll I ran in the past), so I'm happy to know you guys love her so much.

Wait, it IS light-hearted to cheat on your husband by getting a train run on you by massive BBCs while snorting cocaine, right?

Oh, good.

4th place: Mirko from Not All Rabbits Are Herbivores.

Dark-skinned futanari muscle mommy with an insatiable sex drive and a hyperactive/aggressive personality, AND from a popular anime. Like Rias, I wonder how much of her popularity was from the original character, and how much was because of the story itself? Nevertheless, it's good to know her portrayal was so well-received. As a femdom muscle mommy lover, I certainly had fun writing her. Mirko instantly conquered me after watching her drive in the show.

Also the thighs.

Once more, I like seeing the roster of popular characters refresh with time. I wonder who the most popular ones will be next time? Only the future can tell.

Seriously, though, don't let Rebecca know she wasn't even in the top 4 this time. She'll snap.

...Again.

There is something I’ve been considering for a while now. Originally, I created Story Continuation Polls as a way to engage with my patrons (it was Patreon back then) and add a perk to the Fighter tier subscription. Now that I closed my queue and am working on clearing it up, I am also looking for ways to improve aspects of my queue/writing process and increase my flexibility.

For better or worse, leaving sequels to monthly Story Continuation Polls makes it so certain stories continue all the time, and others not so much. That’s just a consequence of niche, variety, and popularity. However, as the one who writes the stories, I want to take all stories to their completion. Plus, I think variety in general is good, and just because a story is not winning on the regular does not mean it does not have interested fans.

So, instead of leaving sequel chapters up to voting and popularity, I am heavily considering doing away with Story Continuation Polls and manually choosing which stories to continue and when. This will allow me to keep any stories from being on hiatuses, which can hurt interest in them due to poor luck or timing. Also, it gives me the flexibility to write unqueued stories and specials – such as I did with Adding A BBC To The Family 5 & 6 or Gaslighting Therapist 8. There have been stories I've wanted to write, but there is just no space to fit them in.

One more thing to take note of is that I tend to write very long chapters because there is such a gap between vote and release, which builds expectations. In the future, as I bring chapters back to quicker release windows, I intend to bring chapter sizes down a bit (10-15k words) to be able to continue more stories at the same time instead of over-focusing on only a couple. I believe this will combo well with manually choosing the continuations myself.

All that said, voting on Story Continuation Polls is one of the perks of the Fighter Tier, so I'd like to put something else in its place if I do go ahead with removing it.

I am considering posting drafts/WIPs of Subscribestar-exclusive stories. A lot of commissioners like receiving drafts of their stories as I progress on them, so perhaps there is interest in the same thing for Subscribestar-exclusive releases.

It might also be helpful in terms of test-reading for a story (beta reading? I see some people use that term). Through the collective power of degeneracy, others might be able to point out plot holes or grammar errors that I missed, and let me know if a story’s quality is up to snuff.

An important thing to note: I have no desire to crowd-source a story’s progress, direction, or plot. I always write with a clear direction in mind, so form no expectations of me changing a story’s general direction due to comments – though I do read feedback and may or may not be inspired by ideas that are offered.

I do not mean to be close-minded; I just want to keep expectations properly aligned. Good or bad, I am unrepetant and unapologetic about whatever vision I have for a story. I think that's a good thing, but I'm obviously biased.

Naturally, once a chapter is completed and is no longer a draft, it will be published for all tiers just as it is right now. In other words, if you like to check a story’s progress along the way, you have the option by joining the Fighter tier (or higher); If you don’t, you can just wait for the same full release that I already have now for all tiers.

I am considering experimenting with this idea in February already. If I do, expect to see drafts of Learning From President – Chapter 4. That might mean no Story Continuation Poll this month either.

In the future, I'd like to bring Prompt Polls back to a monthly frequency as well. Let my dream be registered here. I know many miss them, me included.

Another note: This idea is not a certainty. I am airing it now because I'm interested in trying it out, but I may change my mind entirely depending on how it goes/how I feel about it. It is not set in stone. Please keep that in mind and thank you for understanding.

This Newsletter is quite long already, but I have one more thing to mention! In the past, I’ve mentioned I was considering removing the perk about having my queue (almost) always open for the Hero/Commissioner/Noble tiers. My logic when I created this perk was that subscribers needed to be able to spend their words because there is a storage limit, but keeping my queue (almost) always open is an obligation that gives me too little flexibility and control over my story schedule and results in snowballing too easily.

Therefore, I’ve opted to bite the bullet and cut this perk out. The rest of the tier remains as it is now (i.e., prompt submissions and discounted words). I believe everyone can choose for themselves what they believe to be the best option whenever they hit their word storage limits.

In the future, I will likely work with brief, timed openings of my queue to avoid getting clogged up again. Whenever I do open, everyone is welcome to come spend your stored words, and I’ll prioritize your commissions as best as I can. Whenever the queue is closed and your storage is at limit, do what you think is best.

Whenever one of these records happen, I say the same thing, but I'll just do it again: Thank you all very much for your interest in my writing. I can only do this because of everyone's support, so know that I don't take any of it for granted and feel very lucky and thankful.

Realistically, these milestones are supposed to come with some form of reward, but I already give it my 100%, meaning I've got nothing to offer you other than fervent gratitude.

Therefore, please contend with the sound of someone splattering on the floor after accidentally jumping without their parachute - a crappy joke I set up at the start of the Newsletter.

SPLAT!

Was that satisfying?

it was?

Oh, wow. You're morbid.

No, get away from me, you freak-

SPLAT!
_________

Alright! This might have been my longest newsletter yet. I hope to beat this record soon.

Do let me know in the comments below if you have any thoughts on anything discussed above.

There are plenty of commissions in the works, and Learning From President – Chapter 4 is progressing nicely. I intend to give February my best, as always!

Thank you all for your continued support!